Adalberto Mondesi has torn ACL in knee, Kansas City Royals president Dayton Moore says
Kansas City Royals president of baseball operations Dayton Moore announced Thursday morning that shortstop Adalberto Mondesi has torn his left ACL. The club placed Mondesi on the 10-day injured list prior to Thursday afternoon’s game against the Chicago White Sox.
An MRI revealed on Wednesday that Mondesi suffered structural damage to his left knee. He’ll travel with the team back to Kansas City after the team wraps up its series in Chicago on Thursday afternoon.
He’ll be reevaluated before the a decision is made on surgery or before the club addresses a potential timetable for his recovery, but it’s not uncommon for an athlete with a torn ACL to need 8-12 months of recovery.
“Your heart sinks,” Moore said. “He continues to have these types of setbacks. He’s worked extremely hard this offseason, by all accounts, of course we didn’t get the chance to communicate the way we always do, but by all accounts, he did everything he was asked to do. And came to spring training looking good and feeling good. It’s just unfortunate.”
Mondesi, 26, is a multi-talented athlete who brings a dynamic presence to the field, but he has been injury prone for a large part of his professional career.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Royals infielder Nicky Lopez said. “... It’s not even about being his teammate. It’s about being his friend. You hate seeing a guy go through that, especially a guy who worked really hard and wants to be playing. It’s just unfortunate. It’s just not fair. So, it’s tough.”
A five-tool phenom, Mondesi’s 2021 season was marred by injury. Strains to both obliques, as well as a left hamstring strain, kept him out the majority of last year.
He played just 35 games last season, his fewest since appearing in 25 in 2017. But Mondesi, who had his first walk-off hit during the club’s season-opening homestand, had played in every game this season prior to Wednesday.
While the Royals had said this spring they’d be conscious of Mondesi’s workload, though not putting artificial limits on his playing time, the club’s early-season schedule was more spread out than anticipated because of two games postponed by rain and three scheduled off days.
Mondesi’s health and ability to stay on the field have been an ongoing issue for several years.
He played fewer than 100 games per season each year in the minors from 2015-17, though he played 115 combined games between minors and majors in 2017. He played in 104 games combined in 2018, and he has not surpassed that mark since. A shoulder injury suffered while making a diving play in the field cost him a large chunk of the 2019 season, and he re-aggravated that injury late in the season and finished the year on the IL.
He played in 59 of the 60 games during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and did not have an IL stint.
“We talked a lot yesterday, last night, this morning,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “Just continuing to encouraging him, continue to just love on him and let him know that this is a tough hand and not what any of us would want to see him have to go through again. Everything he does all year, all offseason, is just trying to stay on the field. Doing all the things that he believes can help him do that. He just continues to have some things happen that are hard to explain.”
On Tuesday night in the series opener against the White Sox, Mondesi left the game in the sixth inning after pulling up awkwardly on the bases with was initially called “left knee discomfort.”
Mondesi successfully bunted for a single in the inning, but he started and stopped abruptly on a stolen base attempt. Then on a subsequent pitch, he immediately walked off the field after quickly scrambling back to first base to first base to avoid a pick-off attempt.
Mondesi came off the field and went into the dugout where he was met by a member of the training staff.
“You’ve got to be there for him no matter what,” Lopez said. “No matter whether he just needs to vent, to talk to someone. Just be the best teammate you can and best friend you can. I went up there and hugged him and told him, ‘I know you don’t really want to hear this, but everything is going to be alright. We can’t wait to have you back.’
“You’ve got to be there every step of the way, because when you’re hit with news like that or unfortunate news, you have to have a support system behind you to get through it. We’re all here for him. You kinda just got to reiterate that to him.”
Teammates certainly felt for Mondesi upon hearing the news, knowing he likely has a lengthy recovery process ahead.
“You could tell, our locker room took a hit,” Lopez said. “He keeps things to himself, but he’s one of the nicer guys on the team. So genuine. A great teammate. Never hear anything bad come out of his mouth. Very positive. I can speak for a lot of people on the team. Our heart breaks for him. It’s so unfortunate.”
This story was originally published April 28, 2022 at 11:47 AM.
